Ayahuasca another Amazon Herb

The other product that makes up this article is called Ayahuasca. With Graviola, they are not products we have heard of before, and have been quite amazed from the research.

Ayahuasca: This is actually a mixture of more than one Amazonian plant and has been used for centuries by the indigenous medicine men (popularly called Shamans).

Ayahuasca has now been substantially studied for the following conditions:

· Depression

· Anxiety

· Panic attacks

· Sleep disorders

· ADHD

· Drug abuse

· Alcohol abuse

· OCD, Obsessive Compulsive disorder

· Schizophrenia

· Violent behavior

· Anti-social disorder

· Neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s, and

· Cancer

However beyond the specific medical realm, people have reported a large (and growing) list of benefits to daily health and general well-being such as;

· Improved general physical health

· Increased mental clarity

· Improved relationships

· Improved outlook on life

· Increased sense of purpose

· More spiritual in life

· Happier sense of well being

· More self confidence

· Calmer

· More compassion/empathy

· Increased energy

· Improved concentration

· Improved anger control

· Feeling more centered

· More humble

· Quicker healing time

· Better creativity

Being a natural medicine, a well-prepared Ayahuasca brew is non-addictive and can be utilized for treating many illnesses and diseases including HIV and cancer. It is very effective in the treatment of psychosomatic disorders. It is also a powerful anti-depressant.

The scientific explanation of the pharmacological activity of Ayahuasca is that the effect is dependent on a synergistic interaction between the alkaloids in the plants. Banisteriopsis caapi contains ß-carboline alkaloids, which are potent MAO-A inhibitors. The other plants contain the potent psychoactive agent N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which is not orally active when ingested by itself, but can be rendered orally active in the presence of a peripheral MAO inhibitor. This interaction is the basis of the psychotropic action of Ayahuasca.

Please note: DMT is illegal in the USA.

An international research team has been investigating the pharmaceutical potential of Ayahuasca. The principal investigator, Dr. Charles Grob, is a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the UCLA School of Medicine. His team has done a chemical analysis of the medicinal drink.

Grob says science confirms that the Ayahuasca brew is a potent medication. It's a very sophisticated form of pharmacology, which the native peoples of the Amazon region have figured out. Ayahuasca is generally a decoction of two plants. Each plant if taken separately has no effects on the human central nervous system, but when taken together there's a very powerful synergy.

DMT, the active ingredient in the brew, is a naturally occurring brain chemical similar to serotonin, and a natural antidepressant. DMT is inactivated in the human gut, but when combined with the antidepressant, it can be absorbed by the body.

Grob says one of Ayahuasca's most promising uses is in treating drug and alcohol addiction. It does not appear to be addictive and the individuals do not develop a tolerance. They also do not go through withdrawals.

The potion also has anti-parasitic properties, which can help prevent malaria and there is some evidence that it diminishes the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

Dr. Charles Grob also discovered that the taking of Ayahuasca has been associated with a long list of documented cures such as the disappearance of everything from metastasized colorectal cancer to cocaine addiction, even after just a ceremony or two. It has been medically proven to be non-addictive and safe to ingest.

Despite the evidence, western scientists have all but ignored Ayahuasca for decades, reluctant to risk their careers by researching a substance containing the outlawed DMT. Only in the past decade, and then only by a handful of researchers, has Ayahuasca begun to be studied.

In 1993 Dr. Grob directed the Hoasca Project, the first in-depth study of the physical and psychological effects of Ayahuasca on humans. He and his team went to Brazil, where the plant mixture can be taken legally, to study members of a church, the União do Vegetal (UDV). This church uses Ayahuasca as a sacrament. Grob compared them to a control group that had never ingested the substance.

União do Vegetal is a Christian religion based on the use of Hoasca (or Ayahuasca) in a program of spiritual evolution based on mental concentration and the search for self-knowledge. Claiming roots as far back as the tenth century BC, members of UDV feel the movement lay dormant before reappearing in Incan Peru in the fourth and fifth centuries BC. UDV as it is known today however was "re-created" on July 22 1961 in Porto Velho, Rondônia, Brazil by the rubber-tapper José Gabriel da Costa (now known as Mestre Gabriel).

The Grob studies found that all the Ayahuasca-using UDV members had experienced remission without recurrence of their addictions, depression, or anxiety disorders. Unlike most common anti-depressants, which Grob says can create such high levels of serotonin that cells may actually compensate by losing many of their serotonin receptors, the Hoasca Project showed that Ayahuasca strongly enhances the body’s ability to absorb the serotonin that’s naturally there. Grob said that “Ayahuasca is perhaps a far more sophisticated and effective way to treat depression than SSRIs [antidepressant drugs]”.

Grob concluded that adding the use of SSRIs is 'a rather crude way' of doing it. And Ayahuasca, he insists, has great potential as a long-term solution in maintaining abstinence from alcohol and drugs.